An interview with the Cure d'Ars

Interviewer: St John Vianney, you are a very famous Priest. You are the patron saint of parish priests. It is good of you to join us today.

I’m happy to be here.

Interviewer: Please, tell us a little about yourself. Where were you born?

I was born near Lyon, in the south of France in 1786.

Interviewer: Were you very close to your family?

Yes. I worked on the family farm, looking after the animals. It was the time of the French Revolution, and priests were not allowed to celebrate Mass. I went to Mass with my parents, in secret, when a priest came to the area. It was a situation that meant we were close to each other.

Interviewer: Were you able to make your first Holy Communion?

Yes, when I was thirteen. The priest said Mass in a barn. We put carriages piled with hay in front of the barn windows, with lookouts, so no-one would see us. It was all very dangerous - not like it is for you today!

Interviewer: Did you always want to be priest?

I told my father that I wanted to be a priest when I was 18 years old. But I had no idea how it could happen. There was no seminary to train priests because of the persecution by the French Revolution.

Interviewer: What difficulties did you face in becoming a priest?

The first problem I faced was the study - I just wasn’t very good at it! I moved to a village nearby to study with the priest there. I hadn’t really been to school much, so it was very hard.

Interviewer: … and the second problem?

Napoleon was now the Emperor of France. I was told I had to join the army, and fight in a war in Spain. A bit by accident, I ended up as a deserter, so I never fought in the war. I had to hide in a mountain village for 14 months. I was only able to return home because of an amnesty, and because my brother volunteered to join the army in my place.

Interviewer: Was that the end of your difficulties?

No. I went to the seminary to continue training to be a priest - we could do this now. But I couldn’t cope with the study! I had to leave at the end of the first term, and go back to studying with Fr Balley in his presbytery.

Interviewer: When were you ordained priest?

12th August 1815, two months after the battle at Waterloo which defeated Napoleon. I was sent to a village called Ars, in the middle of nowhere. Nobody really went to Mass there any more - the French Revolution had seen to that.

Interviewer: What did you do?

I started a campaign to get people to go to Mass on Sunday. During the French Revolution, Sunday wasn’t a special day any more and everyone worked like on any other day. I had to change all this. The people were also involved in heavy drinking and dancing - so I preached against this, too. I preached and I taught catechism. I started a school, and a home for children and young girls.

Interviewer: What about the Sacrament of Confession?

I eventually spent hours every day hearing confessions. It was part of my particular gift to the parish in Ars. On one of my retreats something very funny happened. The people of that town were so keen that I should hear their confessions, and the Church was so crowded with people pushing to reach the confessional... they very nearly tipped the confessional over, with me in it!

Interviewer: And the Blessed Sacrament?

I encouraged my parishioners to go to Mass every day, and to receive Holy Communion every day. This was something else I campaigned on - and quite a few parishioners started to do it. One of my favourite stories is about a farmer in the parish who spent all day in the Church one day - instead of working in the field. When a friend asked him what he had been doing all day, he said: “I look deeply at Him, and He looks deeply at me”. The farmer was talking about his union with Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration.

Interviewer: Did you ever want to leave Ars?

At one time I did visit nearby villages to give retreats. It was during one of those retreats that I was nearly tipped over in the confessional. I really wanted to be a priest in a monastery, but everyone wanted me to stay in Ars. Near the end of my life, I wanted to move to a nearby house to live a kind of monastic life. I tried leaving during the night - but the parishioners found out, and wouldn’t let me go. By this time I was very popular - and this was the third time that I had tried to leave!

Interviewer: And you died on 4th August 1859, 150 years ago. Thank you John Vianney for joining us today, and sharing the story of your life with us.